Not sure where in the central valley you are but the Santa Clara Valley water report shows CH at 35 and TA at 110.
Urgent Start Up Advice Needed
- Thread starter phil29
- Start date
Haha, in the actual Central Valley, in a city you've never heard of ;-) I checked a report for a city about 5 miles away from me and it shows avg CH of between 3 and 11, with a TA of 170. I believe the upper TA range for my city was over 290. That's not the average by any means, but I just happen to live in that upper spectrum.
Edit: due to small population of the region I'm from and the potential legal complications that may result with our builder I'm hesitant to give out my actual location. Once this is all resolved though I'll disclose more geographically accurate info.
Davis,
TA was between 80-110 earlier this afternoon (I did a super quick check that wasn't very exact, and the pH was well below the minimum of 7.0 that my 2006 kit can test to. Do you know what options there are to possibly clean the splotches? I'm meeting with both my lawyer and my builder tomorrow. I'd rather not take legal action, but I also need to protect my investment and my family. Quite a rather unfortunate waste of time this whole thing has been. I digress, in any event, when I talk to the builder is there anything I can suggest they do? What are my options?
Thanks,
Phillip
Edit: The pH was several shades below 7.0 when I got home from work, and the TA had dropped dramatically. The only thing I can even think that would make sense is that the PB dumped a ton of acid in to do an acid start. Otherwise I'm lost.
TA was between 80-110 earlier this afternoon (I did a super quick check that wasn't very exact, and the pH was well below the minimum of 7.0 that my 2006 kit can test to. Do you know what options there are to possibly clean the splotches? I'm meeting with both my lawyer and my builder tomorrow. I'd rather not take legal action, but I also need to protect my investment and my family. Quite a rather unfortunate waste of time this whole thing has been. I digress, in any event, when I talk to the builder is there anything I can suggest they do? What are my options?
Thanks,
Phillip
Edit: The pH was several shades below 7.0 when I got home from work, and the TA had dropped dramatically. The only thing I can even think that would make sense is that the PB dumped a ton of acid in to do an acid start. Otherwise I'm lost.
I'm sure the PB dropped acid in the pool. Whether it's a "plan" for a hot start, or a mistake on volume, it's hard to say. Have you asked him why your pH is off scale low?
Alright current levels:
TA: 90
CH: 140
pH: 6.4 (determined using a little voodoo, chicken bones, and math)
The pH has come up since yesterday. They have fixed the pump and now have the pump running. I don't have a heater on my pool, but I do have a cartridge filter and SWG (IC60, but its unplugged and there's no salt in the pool). Is there any long term harm being done by having the pool pump run at 6.4?
-Phillip
TA: 90
CH: 140
pH: 6.4 (determined using a little voodoo, chicken bones, and math)
The pH has come up since yesterday. They have fixed the pump and now have the pump running. I don't have a heater on my pool, but I do have a cartridge filter and SWG (IC60, but its unplugged and there's no salt in the pool). Is there any long term harm being done by having the pool pump run at 6.4?
-Phillip
A pH of 6.4 is not a good thing but with a TA of 90, your pH should rise into the 7's relatively quickly. Do not add any more acid to the pool until the pH reaches close to 7.9.
Are you responsible for the chemical balance now? I kind of hate to have do do a bunch of things just to have the pool builder dump more acid in or throw it back in your face that you damaged the pool.
Do you have trichlor pucks in the pool?
Are you responsible for the chemical balance now? I kind of hate to have do do a bunch of things just to have the pool builder dump more acid in or throw it back in your face that you damaged the pool.
Do you have trichlor pucks in the pool?
Davis,
I assume I am looking for a higher pH to offset the relatively low CH I currently have? I have not assumed responsibility for the chemical balance of the pool and I have no idea what the plan is. I am actually headed over there to talk with them either today (if I can get finished with work in time) or first thing tomorrow morning.
There are 3 trichlor pucks in a floater right now.
Thanks,
Phillip
Edit: What would you suggest if I was handling the pool chemicals?
I assume I am looking for a higher pH to offset the relatively low CH I currently have? I have not assumed responsibility for the chemical balance of the pool and I have no idea what the plan is. I am actually headed over there to talk with them either today (if I can get finished with work in time) or first thing tomorrow morning.
There are 3 trichlor pucks in a floater right now.
Thanks,
Phillip
Edit: What would you suggest if I was handling the pool chemicals?
1.) Pull the pucks. They are acidic and you don't need help lowering the pH right now. Use liquid chlorine for sanitation for the immediate time being.
2.) Add washing soda to get to a pH of 7.2-7.4 and will also raise the TA to about 170-180. The higher alkalinity will make up for your low CH.
3.) Brush the pool as often as possible and get the pump running 24/7 (if not already)
This advice will no doubt contradict what the pool builder would say to do and somewhat goes against what is taught on this site. You will have to decide how you will proceed...
2.) Add washing soda to get to a pH of 7.2-7.4 and will also raise the TA to about 170-180. The higher alkalinity will make up for your low CH.
3.) Brush the pool as often as possible and get the pump running 24/7 (if not already)
This advice will no doubt contradict what the pool builder would say to do and somewhat goes against what is taught on this site. You will have to decide how you will proceed...
Davis,
Alright, so the latest levels are:
CH: 210
TA: 110
pH: 7.2
CYA: Somewhere between 30-50, I'm not in love with the test, I feel like I can still see the dot and keep adding water when maybe I'm just trying to hard?
CSI: -0.44, squeaked just over -0.6
I basically took your advice and did a tweener by adding more calcium to bump up my CH levels to 200, removing the pucks, and then naturally letting the pH rise. I'll let the CH sit there for awhile and stabilize. Eventually I'd like to get CH up to 350 when I start my SWG. Also, I talked with the pool guy that came over to check up on the pool, and asked him not to add any more acid. His response after I confronted him about the abnormally low pH (6.4) was that they intentionally make it low so that they can clean the plaster. I informed him that running acidic water through the pumps and filter was bad (how does he not know this?) and he just seemed exasberated, like its basically just company policy to do some sort of a franken-start between both the acid and traditional startup (or perhaps they just panicked after they realized they were destroying the fresh plaster by doing neither for 3 days...)
-Phillip
Alright, so the latest levels are:
CH: 210
TA: 110
pH: 7.2
CYA: Somewhere between 30-50, I'm not in love with the test, I feel like I can still see the dot and keep adding water when maybe I'm just trying to hard?
CSI: -0.44, squeaked just over -0.6
I basically took your advice and did a tweener by adding more calcium to bump up my CH levels to 200, removing the pucks, and then naturally letting the pH rise. I'll let the CH sit there for awhile and stabilize. Eventually I'd like to get CH up to 350 when I start my SWG. Also, I talked with the pool guy that came over to check up on the pool, and asked him not to add any more acid. His response after I confronted him about the abnormally low pH (6.4) was that they intentionally make it low so that they can clean the plaster. I informed him that running acidic water through the pumps and filter was bad (how does he not know this?) and he just seemed exasberated, like its basically just company policy to do some sort of a franken-start between both the acid and traditional startup (or perhaps they just panicked after they realized they were destroying the fresh plaster by doing neither for 3 days...)
-Phillip
Good to hear you got things back in line. How does the plaster look? How much dust are you seeing?
Thanks for the patience, its been a busy few days. I've attached a picture of the plaster, does it normally look so marbled? It looks like a child finger painted on the entire plaster surface: IMG_20160331_181824.jpg - Google Drive Maybe that's just the natural look of plaster and I'm making a big deal over nothing, but at this point my calibration for "normal" is so off center I'm not really sure how to react anymore.
The PB again dropped the acid down to a 6.5 yesterday, but I've gotten it back to a 7.1 today. Otherwise the other levels are right within zone:
CYA: 50
pH: 7.1
TC: 8
CH: 210
TA: 80
My CSI is pretty bad, -0.8, but that should rise quickly as pH swings back into alignment.
Otherwise I am still seeing dust when I sweep, but now I'm not sure if its a mixture of dirt and plaster or just plaster. I've been checking the pump for PSI to increase but I haven't seen much of an increase. I did clean my cartridges once, but the debris wasn't anything spectacular. I wonder how much of the plaster has been dissolved by the extra acid, or is stuck in my pool?
-Phillip
A "marbled " finish is a result of excess water used while troweling and/or calcium chloride added to the plaster mix to be used as an accelerator.
Obviously dropping the pH is not a remedy for this since your pool builder was kind enough to run that experiment for you. The finish may even out somewhat as time passes but what you see is likely what you are stuck with.
Obviously dropping the pH is not a remedy for this since your pool builder was kind enough to run that experiment for you. The finish may even out somewhat as time passes but what you see is likely what you are stuck with.
Brian,
Is this something that you would press the PB about, or just let it go? What would you do if it was your pool?
-Phillip
Is this something that you would press the PB about, or just let it go? What would you do if it was your pool?
-Phillip
I certainly would. It seems you've had a bunch of issues.
What's the deal with the filter? I hope that just hasn't been updated yet?
What's the deal with the filter? I hope that just hasn't been updated yet?